Both the Kings and the Devils advanced to the finals in dramatic fashion. The Devils put away their rival New York Rangers in overtime of Game 6 after blowing a 2-0 lead and being dominated the later part of the game when rookie Adam Henrique stuffed home a rebound.

The Kings put away the Phoenix Coyotes in five games when Dustin Penner put a shot past Mike Smith seconds after Dustin Brown’s hit on Michal Rozsival in overtime to send the Kings to the finals for the first time since 1993.

Penner’s goal:

9. Unlikely finals

Jonathan Quick is up for the Vezina Award for best goalie. (AP)

The Kings, the Western Conference’s eighth seed, just made the playoffs after struggling in the regular season. Their offense was anemic and rode the back of goaltender Jonathan Quick’s breakout season. In the first round, the Kings disposed of the No. 1 seed Vancouver Canucks in dominating fashion in just five games. In the second round, they swept another regular-season juggernaut in the St. Louis Blues before putting down the Coyotes in the Western Conference finals. For the Kings, their offense came alive at the right time as their top-six forwards finally clicked in the postseason to combine with Quick’s stellar goaltending.

The Devils, another unlikely finalist, came in as the No. 6 seed and beat the pesky Florida Panthers in seven games in the first round. A disciplined Devils team frustrated the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round sending home the East’s fifth seed ,who dominated the star-studded Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round, in five games. In the Eastern Conference finals, the Devils upset the East’s No. 1 seed in the rival New York Rangers. Eighteen years ago the Rangers beat the Devils in dramatic fashion in the Eastern finals en route to advancing and winning the Stanley Cup in 1994. This time, the Devils were able to beat the Rangers in six and advance to the finals. The Devils fourth line was dominant that series and the Rangers goal-scoring woes continued.

8. Martin Brodeur’s legacy

Martin Brodeur is a national hero for Canada. (AP)

Martin Brodeur has done it all and won it all. Brodeur is the NHL’s all-time leader in regular season wins and has won three Stanley Cups ( all with the Devils) and two Olympic gold medals with Team Canada. He is also a four-time winner of the Vezina Trophy for league’s best goalie.

7. American made

The Kings are captained by American Dustin Brown (a native of upstate New York) , who may serve as Team USA’s captain in the next Olympics. Brown is everything you’d want in a captain. The gritty forward leads by example with his huge hits and timely goals. He was rumored to be on the trading block as the Kings stumbled into the postseason, but Brown has elevated his game in the playoffs with 16 points off seven goals and nine assists, three of those tallies being game winners.

Team USA may also look to the Kings’ net for the future as American Jonathan Quick leads the playoffs in wins (13), save percentage (.946) and goals-against average (1.54) after having a statistically similar brilliant regular season.

6. Deal with the Devil

Ilya Kovalchuk scored for the Devils in Game 6 against the Rangers. (AP)

Sniper Ilya Kovalchuk was traded from the then-Atlanta Thrashers to the Devils in 2010. In the offseason, he signed a monster 15-year, $100 million deal that will keep him in Newark forever. The length of the deal broke the record for the longest contract in NHL history, and was criticized for circumventing the league’s salary cap. Kovalchuk has delivered for New Jersey by leading the postseason in scoring with 18 points off seven goals and 11 assists.

5. Hottest ticket in town

The Beckham family are big Kings fans. (AP)

With the Lakers out of the NBA playoffs, the Kings are the “in” thing to do in L.A. again. Not since Wayne Gretzky put Los Angeles on the hockey map, and the entire Sun Belt region of the United States, has L.A. been so hockey crazy. Celeb sightings have gone up as Tom Hanks, Kobe Bryant, Steven Tyler, Steve Carell , Justin Bieber, Kristen Bell, Will Ferrell , David Beckham and many more have been sighted at the Staples Center for the playoffs.

4. L.A. story

Mike Richards and Jeff Carter were the Flyers biggest stars when they were both traded in separate deals last summer as part of Philly’s revamp. Rumored to be dealt for their off-ice partying, they were still fan favorites in Philly and proven playoff performers. Richards, who was the Flyers captain, is one of the best two-way forwards in the game and struggled at first when he was traded to the Kings.

Carter was dealt twice this season; first to Columbus and then to Los Angeles. Carter too had a slow start, but both ex-Flyers are a big reason the Kings are in the finals. Carter is looking like the goal-scorer L.A. so desperately needed when trading for him. Richards ,who plays a similar style to Kings captain Dustin Brown, has been a force this playoffs and was an absolute beast in the series against the Canucks.

The New Jersey Devils have won the Cup three times (1995, 2000 and 2003). The Los Angeles Kings have never won the Stanley Cup.

2. Playoff MVPs

Zach Parise is one of the best American players in the game. (AP)

The Conn Smythe trophy is given for the playoff MVP. Early candidates are Dustin Brown and Jonathan Quick for Los Angeles, while Ilya Kovachuk and captain Zach Parise are favorites for New Jersey.

1. Who will win?

You’d have to think one of these team’s dream season will come crashing down to earth sometime, right? The Kings have lost just twice the entire playoffs, while the Devils pulled off upsets of Philadelphia and New York to get to the big show. Will luck run out for the Devils or Kings? Or maybe it really isn’t luck and the Kings are for real and the Devils deserve their role representing the Eastern Conference.

Dustin Brown has seven goals so far in the playoffs. (AP)

Both teams are riding huge waves of momentum. The Devils put out four solid lines on offense, a decent defense and a legend in net. The Kings are deep on defense, have the game’s best young goalie in net and have a group of top-six forwards who are on fire. In the end, the Kings won’t be stopped. Expect Los Angeles to win its first Stanley Cup by beating New Jersey in five games.

Claude Giroux and Sidney Crosby do not like each other. (Bruce Bennet/Getty)

With the first round of the playoffs providing exciting hockey and tons of drama already, here are some quick thoughts: ( Check back for updates)

–In the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 8-4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, captain Sidney Crosby was front in center of many of the scrums. Crosby, obviously frustrated with his team being down 3-0 in this fight-filled, high-scoring series, sucker punched the Flyers’ star center Claude Giroux. Crosby, who went after Kimmo Timonen, was confronted by Giroux as the two locked up and appeared ready to fight. The two tussled with neither being able to land any punches until the refs stepped in. With the refs in the middle, and Giroux hunched over trying to get at Crosby, Crosby landed an uppercut knowing full well Giroux was vulnerable with the refs in the way and knew the refs would protect him from retaliation since the fight was separated. And this is the “face of the NHL” that Gary Bettman and Co. shove down our throats?

– OK, so let me get this straight. New York Rangers rookie Carl Hagelin gets a three-game suspension for his elbow to Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson in Game 2 of that Eastern Conference series, yet the Nashville Predators’ Shea Weber gets just a $2,500 fine for slamming Detroit Red Wing Henrik Zetterberg’s head into the boards twice WWE-style? What a joke.

See for yourself which is worse:

or

– Mike Richards was in straight-beast mode for the Los Angeles Kings in the Game 1 win over the Vancouver Canucks. Richards scored a goal and landed a huge hit at the end of the game with the Canucks pressing for the tying goal.

-Speaking of the Los Angeles, Kings captain Dustin Brown has been on a dominating with four goals in the first three games to put his team , the eighth seed, up 3-0 over the No. 1 seed Canucks. The gritty American forward has also set the tone physically. Watch his huge hit on Canucks star Henrik Sedin from Sunday’s 1-0 win, which Brown also tallied the lone goal.